Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s
largest mining company, said Australia needs to move away from
coal as its main source of power to avoid competitive
disadvantage once a global price on carbon emerges.

“With about 90 percent of the carbon emissions from our
electricity sector coming from coal-fired power stations,
Australia will need to look beyond just coal towards the full
spectrum of available energy solutions,” Marius Kloppers, chief
executive officer of the Melbourne-based company, said today.
“Failure to do so will place us at a competitive disadvantage
in a future where carbon is priced globally.”

Australia, seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions,
appointed Greg Combet, a former union leader and coal mining
engineer, as climate change minister this week. Prime Minister
Julia Gillard has agreed to establish a climate change committee
to move toward introducing a penalty for carbon emissions in the
world’s largest exporter of coal.

BHP is “committed to working with governments on the
design of effective policies to help reduce greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere,” Kloppers said at an industry
lunch in Sydney. “Our preferred solution is the introduction of
an international climate framework, which includes binding
commitments by all developed and major developing economies to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

BHP gained 1 percent to A$39.44 at the 4:10 p.m. Sydney
time close on the Australian stock exchange.

AGL Position

Australian lawmakers should consider an emissions-trading
system that applies only to electricity generation and excludes
transport and agriculture, AGL Energy Ltd., the nation’s largest
electricity retailer, said today. Companies will hold off on
investment in gas-fired power plants without certainty on a
carbon price, AGL Chief Executive Officer Michael Fraser told an
energy conference in Sydney.

BHP, a partner in the world’s biggest exporter of coking
coal, will work with Australia’s government on climate change
policies, Kloppers said.

“We believe local actions that are eventually harmonized
into unified global action is a more likely outcome than an
immediate broadly supported global initiative,” Kloppers said.
“We also believe that such a global initiative will eventually
come, and when it does Australia will need to have acted ahead
of it to maintain its competitiveness.”

In the absence of a global system on carbon reduction,
Kloppers said industries that face higher costs for their
products will need to receive rebates to avoid relocation to a
different country where a carbon price doesn’t crimp margins.
“Carbon emissions need to have a cost impact in order to cause
the consumer to change behaviour and favor low carbon
alternatives.”